Clinton Barton (Earth-616)
Corrections Avengers 2004 corrections | Identity = Public | Alignment = Good | Affiliation = , , ; formerly , , , , , , , , partner of Black Widow, "Brothers in Arms" | Relatives = Harold Barton (father, deceased); Edith Barton (mother, deceased); Charles Bernard Barton (brother); Barbara Morse (Mockingbird) (ex-wife); Brett Barton (ancestor); Mack Barton (ancestor); | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Avengers Compound, Los Angeles; formerly Avengers Mansion; Mount Charteris; Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Greenwich Village | Gender = Male | Height = 6'3" (190 cm) | Weight = 230 lbs | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Blond | UnusualFeatures = | CharRef = | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Divorced | Occupation = Adventurer, formerly thief, circus roustabout, former security chief , archery tutor, butcher shop worker, carnival performer | Education = No formal education; High school dropout | Origin = Trained by Swordsman and Trick Shot; inspired to fight crime after witnessing Iron Man in action. | PlaceOfBirth = Waverly, Iowa | Creators = Stan Lee; Don Heck | First = | HistoryText = ]] Origins and Early Days Orphaned at an early age, Clint Barton was sent to a children's home with his brother Bernard. Running away to join a traveling circus, the pair worked as roustabouts. While a member of the circus, Clint was trained by the original Swordsman and by Trick Shot. Witnessing Iron Man in action, Barton attempted to emulate him by donning a colorful costume and employing his archery skills to fight crime. However, during his first public appearance, Hawkeye was mistaken for a thief by police. The Black Widow enlisted him as her partner and they clashed with Iron Man on several occasions . Although Hawkeye became romantically involved with the Black Widow, he was unhappy being a criminal. When he approached the Avengers and told them of his desire to reform, Iron Man sponsored his membership on the team. Barton formed, along with Captain America, Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver, an incarnation of the Avengers known as "Cap's Kooky Quartet." This was the lineup that succeeded the original after the four remaining founders all took indefinite leaves of absence . This team was at first regarded as less formidable than the previous roster, but soon proved themselves against the likes of such as Kang the Conqueror and Doctor Doom. Hawkeye was an active member of the Avengers for years, with his archery skills and inventive trick arrows augmenting the superhuman powers of his associates. His carefree and rebellious personality meant that he sometimes argued with Captain America, but their teamwork never faltered when faced by outside threats. Continued Career and Mockingbird For a short time, Barton abandoned his Hawkeye identity and taking Hank Pym's growth serum, operated under the name Goliath. After resuming his Hawkeye role, he also briefly became the Golden Archer. He has taken several extended leaves of absence from the Avengers, trying to establish a career for himself outside of the group. The first of which, actually resigning on the grounds that he wanted to prove he did not need a team to be effective- only to almost immediately join the Defenders for several adventures (including opposing the Avengers)! During the course of another leave, Barton became security chief for Cross Technological Enterprises. While at Cross, he met engineer Jorge Latham, designer of the Sky-Cycle as the Barton's personal conveyance when he was incapacitated with a broken leg. Shortly thereafter, Clint also met and eloped with Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. fellow crime fighter Mockingbird, when the two were kidnapped by Crossfire, a villain who wanted to use hypnotic ultrasounds to force superheroes to kill each other. Hawkeye and Mockingbird defeated Crossfire, but Barton suffered permanent hearing damage due to the ultrasounds and for a long time was forced to wear a hearing aid. Eventually, Franklin Richards would cure him of this injury when Clint was among heroes restored from an alternate reality . West Coast Avengers Upon his return to the Avengers with his new bride, Barton was appointed to chair a new second team of Avengers based on the West Coast by then-chairman, the Vision. The team Hawkeye chose consisted of Mockingbird, his original inspiration Iron Man, Wonder Man, and Tigra. Hawkeye and Mockingbird acted as the guiding force behind the team. Barton hired his old friend from Cross Technologies, Jorge Latham, to act as the on-staff mechanic and to build a new fleet of sky-cycles. Hank Pym helped the team in a civilian capacity as the resident scientist. One of the western team's adventures scattered them across time. While Hawkeye and most of the others were stranded in ancient Egypt, Mockingbird was in the Old West, held captive and rendered amnesiac by Phantom Rider (Lincoln Slade), posing as her lover. In a mountaintop battle between the two after her escape, Barbara allowed Slade to fall to his death. The couple separated after Clint learned of all this through the Rider's spirit. Morse, along with Tigra and Moon Knight, left the team and briefly formed a splinter group with Bill Foster. Tigra and later Mockingbird returned to the AWC, although the rift was exacerbated when Bobbi proved instrumental in a multinational plot to abduct and dismantle the Vision for his near "benevolent" takeover of the world (although he aborted the plan before anyone was truly harmed). The West Coast team operated both independently and in conjunction with the senior East Coast team. One mission they were involved on was Operation Galactic Storm. Barton was initially relegated to remain on Earth as part of the "rear guard" team due to a "lack of raw power." With some timely aid from Hank Pym, he re-assumed his old Goliath identity, and took USAgent's place on Captain America's team bound for the Kree Empire. After Iron Man, against orders, led a group of Avengers to execute the Kree Supreme Intelligence, Barton was important in helping Captain America regain confidence in his leadership. Briefly maintaining the Goliath identity, Clint and Bobbi managed to reconcile during this time. On the AWC's last mission, the team began an otherworldly trek to rescue the captured Mockingbird from the hands of Satannish The Supreme and Mephisto. During their escape, Mephisto seemingly killed "Mockingbird" (an undiscovered Skrull imposter). Shortly thereafter, Vision began the vote that disbanded the West Coast team. Renewed Solo Career and Thunderbolts After Mockingbird's apparent death, Hawkeye became a solo agent for a period of time. During which, Barton was commissioned to train a group of rebels known as the Shadows along with Sundance and Striker. He attempted to keep them from killing, but on one raid Striker killed a woman and injured her fiancee, a friend of James Rhodes. As War Machine, Rhodes investigated and was surprised to see Hawkeye among the rebels. A government-backed group led by USAgent also arrived adding further confusion between the "Brothers in Arms". The three were able to stop the conflict and were confronted by the mysterious Advisor. After years of fighting alongside the Avengers, Hawkeye offered to lead the Thunderbolts. Sympathetic to their plight as criminals trying to redeem themselves for their past actions, he decided to help them become a legitimate superhero team. They briefly assumed new identities to try and start over, with Hawkeye calling himself the new Dreadknight. He also became romantically involved with Moonstone. As leader, Hawkeye led the Thunderbolts both alongside and sometimes against his former teammates in the Avengers. Death Eventually rejoining the Avengers, Clint began a dallying affair with The Wasp, causing tension with her sometime lover, Hank Pym. When the Scarlet Witch had her breakdown that resulted in the breakup of the Avengers, Barton perished on an exploding Kree ship created by her crazed state. The Scarlet Witch did not act again until sometime later when she altered time and space on a universal level: changing Earth's history to where mutants were the rulers while human beings were a minority. Barton was very much alive after these changes and affiliated with an underground human resistance opposing the mutant supremacy. Like all of the other inhabitants on the planet, Clint retained no memory of his previous life. This changed, however, after X-Man Emma Frost restored his memories, hoping to recruit him for the resistance to oppose Magneto and the Scarlet Witch. While this rebellious network incorporated more of his original Avenger teammates, Barton was reluctant, preoccupied with the disquieting notion of his recent demise among his returned memories. Eventually confronting and failing to kill Wanda Maximoff with one of his arrows, he brought up their shared history as teammates as well as his former romantic feelings for her, angrily demanding to know why she ended his life. His encounter with her did not last long as Clint's tensions renewed Wanda's mental instability, causing her to once again erase him from existence. She then restored reality to it's original state, only to remove mutant genomes from millions of mutants on Earth making them human and without any powers. Clint awoke inside Avengers Mansion confused by the events. Leaving his "Hawkeye" wardrobe and equipment at the Mansion, he set out to relocate the Scarlet Witch, seeking Doctor Strange for assistance. Strange was the only person in the world to know of his revival at this time. Clint found Wanda in a small European village located in the mountains, living as a gypsy. Spending the night with her, Barton learned she had no memory of her previous life and was evidently depowered. He left at dawn the next morning, heeding the warning of Doctor Strange not to attempt to revive her memories and possibly worsen her mental condition. Ronin After the assassination of Captain America, Iron Man approached Clint about taking up the shield. Barton proved himself to be one of the few who could wield it effectively, and considered taking up the mantle. He and Iron Man encountered the Young Avengers called Patriot and Hawkeye. They convinced him that wearing Steve Rogers' costume and wielding his shield would be wrong, and he allowed the unregistered young heroes to go free. Later, when Clint learned that Stark had given the shield to "Bucky" Barnes (Cap's WWII sidekick and the reformed Winter Soldier), he payed this new Captain America a visit to express his disapproval. Barton revealed himself as the current user of the Ronin guise, joining the New Avengers. During World War Hulk, he was defeated by two of the Hulk's Warbound while trying to defend Rick Jones. During the Skrull Invasion, Barton headed to the Savage Land with the New Avengers to investigate a crashed Skrull ship. There, both they and the Mighty Avengers came across many heroes from years past including a "Hawkeye" and a "Mockingbird". This "Hawkeye" was discovered to be a Skrull, but after Clint questioned "Mockingbird" of her miscarriage, he truly believed her to be his late wife. Teammates Luke Cage and Wolverine were more suspicious. This was justified later, when Clint was proven wrong by Mr. Fantastic, whose technology forced the Skrulls to revert to their true structures. Clint did not hesitate in shooting the Skrull Mockingbird impostor dead with one of Black Widow's firearms. Enraged by such deception, Barton became more dedicated to opposing the invading Skrulls without any second thoughts on killing them. During the final battle with the Skrulls alongside dozens of superheroes, he used his old bow and quiver of trick arrows (dropped by the wounded Kate Bishop) to kill several Super-Skrulls and to severely wound Queen Veranke, the orchestrator of the entire invasion, who had been posing as Spider-Woman. After the fighting, it was discovered that the people replaced by the Skrulls were alive and well, including Bobbi. Dark Reign Reuniting with his wife, they were the first to be invited by Captain America (Barnes) to his safe house which he offered as a base of operations to the New Avengers' cause and future activities. The team’s first being a search and rescue mission for the infant daughter of fellow teammate Luke Cage. Clint was infuriated at Norman Osborn’s rise to power- especially at the former super villain’s own Avengers group which was composed of super villains and murderers who assumed the identities of his fugitive Avengers. Wanting to dissuade Osborn and his group from using the Avengers name and logo, Clint and his New Avengers attempted to lure and battle them in the former Hellfire Club headquarters but were instead opposed by the Hood's crime syndicate who were sent in place of the new Dark Avengers. At the discovery of evidence proving Osborn’s corrupt politics, Clint went to the media exposing his identity and denouncing the Dark Avengers and Osborn’s connections with the Hood. His final words were a message encouraging the American public to resist Osborn’s new regime. This did not rest well with Clint’s teammates as none of them were comfortable with his starting a public flame war without their consent, growing concerned for their general safety. Despite negative feedback from his teammates, Clint remained on good terms with his friends throughout their course of activities. Aside from the New Avengers’ missions, Clint’s relationships with his individual teammates continued to develop. He gradually remained good friends with Luke Cage, Spider-Man, and Wolverine, and was particularly happy to be working with his former Avengers teammate and friend, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), again; especially coming off prior tensions with her former pro-registration Mighty Avengers team. He now trusted James Barnes, gradually accepting him as the new Captain America as well as a valued friend and ally. Clint learned Bobbi did not consider him her husband any longer, having had intentions to divorce him just prior to her abduction, but he somewhat successfully revived their relationship. However, he remained distrustful and cautious of Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) due to the Skrull empress Veranke’s portrayal of her; traits he shared with teammate Luke Cage. He was later unanimously voted as leader of the New Avengers in which he appointed Ms. Marvel as his deputy leader. He coordinated the team in aiding Doctor Strange in locating the next Sorcerer Supreme in New Orleans opposing Dormammu, the Hood and Madame Masque in the process, opposing Ymir alongside the Osborn’s Avengers, aiding Hank Pym (now the Wasp) and his Mighty Avengers in China with its superheroes against the powerful Inhuman extraterrestrial the Unspoken, and escaping capture from the Dark Avengers and the Hood’s Crime Syndicate now led by Doctor Jones Harrow. The aftermath of the New Avengers’ later activities however, placed Luke Cage in critical condition and confined Wolverine on the Utopia X island neighboring San Francisco’s bay which had been declared a prison by Norman Osborn. Wanting to end Osborn’s reign before the status of the superhero community worsened, Clint infiltrated Stark Tower incapacitating a majority of the Dark Avengers in attempt to assassinate Norman Osborn, but failed- being imprisoned by Ares and Osborn as a bargaining chip against his own team. Osborn, using Mentallo (Marvin Flumm), took the location of the New Avengers secret base from his mind. The others were able to clear out in time while using the Dark Avengers attack on their now empty hideout to free him from captivity. Once they were safe in their auxiliary safe house, Clint apologized to his team for attempted assassination. Then, Steve Rogers turned up, saying that they, as the Avengers, will right the wrongs Osborn had caused. Heroic Age Steve Rogers put together a new team of Avengers. Clint joined the team and returned to his Hawkeye identity (although he encouraged Kate Bishop to keep the Hawkeye identity as well). He and Mockingbird were also members of the New Avengers, although Hawkeye later left the New Avengers when he received an Avengers priority call from the main team, claiming that he was only there to spend time with his wife. Hawkeye aided Mockingbird and her anti-terrorist organization, the World Counter-terrorism Agency. Together, they thwarted Crossfire's illegal arms operation, and encountered Lincoln Slade's descendant, Jaime Slade, who later went on to become the new Phantom Rider. Crossfire and the new Phantom Rider teamed up to battle the heroes. This feud had its casualties with Mockingbird's mother being severely wounded and the death of Hamilton Slade, both at the hands of Crossfire. Hawkeye left the W.C.A. after it became clear that his relationship with Mockingbird had become too strained. However, he quickly rejoined after being informed by Steve Rogers that a kill list of international spies included Mockingbird. Blindspot Hawkeye and Mockingbird teamed up with the Black Widow to take on the mysterious new Ronin and the Dark Ocean Society. The new Ronin was later revealed to be Alexei Shostakov, the former Red Guardian and ex-husband of the Black Widow. During the final battle with the new Ronin, Hawkeye received a strong blow to the head, which proved to be more serious than first thought. While battling the Lethal Legion with the Avengers, Hawkeye's aim was faltering. After the battle, Tony Stark, Donald Blake and Steve Rogers examined Hawkeye to discover what was causing it. Their diagnosis is that Hawkeye was steadily losing his sight and would soon go blind. Iron Man provided Hawkeye with technology that should stall the blindness. Later, Trick Shot arrived at Avengers Tower on the brink of death. Trick Shot told Hawkeye that he was forced to train another archer, one who was as good as Hawkeye, before fainting in his arms. Hawkeye was later ambushed by his brother Barney Barton (who was the one trained by Trick Shot) who proclaimed himself the new Trickshot. Barney manages to subdue Hawkeye and bring him to Baron Zemo. Zemo had the brothers duel to the death. Hawkeye ,despite going blind, managed to best Trickshot in battle. Before teleporting away, Baron Zemo transferred Trickshot's criminal funds over to the "victor" Hawkeye, then taunted the hero for turning his brother against him. In custody, Trickshot agreed to a bone marrow transplant to save his brother's sight, but only so he could battle Hawkeye again in the future. Fear Itself & Secret Avengers During the attack of the Serpent, Hawkeye developed feelings for fellow Avenger Spider-Woman, after both battled Nul in Brazil. Captain America left the leadership of the Secret Avengers in the hands of Clint. He, in turn, recruited Giant-Man, Captain Britian, a new heroic Venom, and the original Human Torch to supplement the team's roster. He then led the Secret Avengers against the Father, a mad scientist seeking an android takeover of Earth. | Powers = As Hawkeye or Ronin, no superhuman abilities. "Formerly" Size Alteration: Thanks to the works of Hank Pym, Barton had the abilities as Goliath to use Pym Particles to grow to immense size or shrink to tiny proportions. The Particles would interact with the electrical impulses of his brain, creating an organism-wide "growth field" or "reducing field." The growth process required the rapid acquisition of bodily mass, presumably from an extra-dimensional source. This extra-dimensional mass fortified all of his cellular tissue, including his bones and muscles, enabling him to support his increased weight, and giving him superhuman strength. Via the shrinking process, Barton could shrink down to a size as low as one half-inch in height. Usually, he did not compress his mass into his smaller size. Instead his mass was extended into an extra-physical dimension that is opened by the activating of the Pym Particles, from which the mass could later be reclaimed. Strangely, because his mass was extended extra-dimensionally when he was at reduced size, Barton retained full human-size strength at that size. Unlike Pym or the Wasp, he was never exposed to Pym Particles long enough to control his size at will, and thus had to use gas capsules infused with the Particles to shrink, grow, or revert to normal size. | Abilities = Master Archer: Barton has trained himself to become a master archer specializing in the use of regular bows, longbows, compound bows, and crossbows with near-perfect accuracy. He is capable of firing multiple arrows at a single target in a few seconds, hitting multiple targets in a few quick strokes, and directly hit small targets in the greatest of distances. He has been known to hit an apple in the center of it. As Hawkeye, he practiced a minimum of two hours per day to keep his skills honed. Expert Marksman: He possesses very keen eyesight, and his accuracy is virtually unerring; he was trained in his youth by Trick Shot with throwing blades, balls, bolas, and boomerangs. He now has near-perfect precision with any aimed or thrown weapon. He can hurl objects with extreme speed and accuracy, both in direct aim and complicated rebounds/interactions. Expert Acrobat: Barton possesses exceptional human strength, endurance, and stamina. He is athletic, with very good reflexes and agility. This, combined with training as an aerialist and acrobat, makes him capable of numerous complex acrobatic maneuvers. Master Martial Artist: Barton is an excellent martial artist, having been trained in various forms by Captain America, who was arguably the world's greatest hand-to-hand combatant. On his first mission with Luke Cage's band of renegade New Avengers, Ronin proved to have come a long way from his old days of rarely ever using his martial arts skills. Throughout the battle against Elektra and The Hand, he demonstrated great skill in his overall martial ability, holding his own against nearly endless hordes of ninjas. This earned him a very respecting compliment from his teammate Iron Fist, one of the world's top martial artists. Skilled Tactician: As shown in his leadership of the West Coast Avengers and the Thunderbolts, Barton is a highly competent strategist, tactician, and field commander. Weapons Proficiency: Although he is not known to use melee weapons, Barton's incredible reflexes and hand-eye coordination allow him to easily master most weapons. He also received training in swordsmanship during his youth from the original Swordsman, who was considered one of the greatest experts in sword-fighting the world has ever known. Barton is skilled with swords, knives, nunchukus, staffs and is one of the few people to be able to properly handle Captain America's shield. | Strength = As Hawkeye or Ronin, Barton possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intense regular exercise and is considered athletic. As Goliath, strength varied according to the height he achieved: at 10 feet tall, Barton could lift (press) 1000 pounds, at 25 feet tall he could lift (press) 10 tons, and at 100 feet tall, Barton could lift (press) 50 tons. The higher Barton grew past 25 feet, the more of his strength he had to use simply to support his own enormous mass. While shrinking as Goliath, Barton retained his normal strength. | Weaknesses = He was once 80% deaf due to an injury, but his hearing was restored during his rebirth on Franklin Richards' Counter-Earth. | Equipment = It is unknown if his actual costume enchances at some point his endurance or other abilities. formerly The Ronin armor, which provides protection and allows the user to blend in with the shadows, a specially padded armor, Avengers Identicard, briefly wore a suit of armor built by Tony Stark that provided protection from bullets. | Transportation = Avengers Quinjets, sky-cycles, Atomic Steed | Weapons = As Hawkeye, Barton possesses custom-made bow, quick-release quiver, and a number of specialty arrows, briefly wielded Captain America's Shield. Formerly as Ronin, Barton uses katana, nunchaku which can also extend into a bo (a nod to Mockingbird's staves) , and shuriken. | Notes = * Clint Barton first appeared as Hawkeye in , as Goliath in , as Golden Archer in , and was identified as Ronin in * The term Ronin means "Masterless Samurai". * First Marvel hero to join the Justice League of America from DC Comics. Joined in Avengers vs JLA #3. *Hawkeye's current costume is a nod to the Ultimates universe where that Hawkeye wears a similar costume, but with red instead of purple. * In Other Media - Barton appears (as Hawkeye) as a playable character in Captain America and the Avengers (a plat former for the NES), a beat-'em-up game of the same name for SNES and arcade, in the beat-'em-up arcade game Spider-Man: The Video Game, and (as a downloadable character), in the multi-platform action RPG, "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" as a exclusive downloadble character for Xbox 360's version. He also appeared in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. * Hawkeye was one of the characters featured in Series A of the Marvel Value Stamps issued in the 1970's. * Hawkeye's post-Fear Itself costume was designed by Bryan Hitch. | Links = }} Category:Humans Category:Formerly Deceased Category:Characters With No Powers Category:Archery Category:Martial Arts Category:Fencing Category:Shield Fighting Category:Trained by Captain America Category:Trained by Swordsman Category:Barton Family Category:Sega - Captain America Category:Sega - Thor